Starting from a fundamental acknowledgment from IFAD Cambodia Country Office (Mr. Khalid El Harizi, CPM for Cambodia) and then supported by APMAS, an approach towards development effectiveness through leadership programme has been initiated. The basic idea is to couple technical assistance for development beneficiaries with leadership programme which will generate drive for innovation and progress in the grassroot level to contribute to project intervention's success.

Both IFAD Cambodia and APMAS have realized that intervention in technical aspects, e.g. productivity improvement, new farming & cattle breeding technologies, livelihood strategies, etc, will not be sufficient, since some issues found on the ground are not merely coming from technical but also motivational and mind-set. On the beneficiaries level, they may view introduction of new ways in their activities mainly contributing to work-life earnings, as too risky and that they have lack of motivation to try unless they see certain benefits. This motivational issue is widespread that it potentially hinder effectiveness of project technical intervention. Therefore it is essential to also address this 'soft issue' through leadership programme for grassroot level which will change the mindset of beneficiaries towards progress and inovation.

The leadership approach is taken because it is clear the relationship between effective leadership and motivation, i.e. to be an effective leader, one must at least be able to lead oneself, to be self-motivated. On the other hand, leading is all about giving direction, which motivation is all about, a goal-oriented characteristic.

The first important step taken by IFAD Cambodia and APMAS is to establish pool of local trainers who will carry forward the leadership programme. Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) has been chosen as main facilitator for this process due to their international recognition as a provider of executive education which specializes in leadership education and research. CCL has been also offering its Leadership Beyond Boundaries (LBB) program for trainers and facilitators, aside from the regular Leadership Essentials (LE) program for management and executives from development sectors in Asia and Africa. APMAS has also interest to promote this leadership approach to other countries beside Cambodia. Therefore a Training of Trainers on LBB was designed and implemented.

CCL Way: The art of leadership development is very closely related to the art of designing and facilitating the experience. In addition to a further review of leadership content, participants learn more about design and facilitation techniques that have made CCL the foremost institution for leadership development. Program participants will be teamed up and have the opportunity to prepare to deliver the LE program.

LE Program Delivery: In teams of 2-4, the trainers deliver the LE program to a live audience.

Debrief and Looking Ahead: Participants receive feedback on their training and look ahead.

On the day 6th and 7th, trainers were given opportunity to practice the methodologies learnt in an LE programme for development sectors (government and NGO) and farmers. The LE for government and NGO sectors were conducted in 2 days (24-25 September 2012) and involved around 60 participants from Ministry of Agriculture, Fishery and Forestry, Ministry of Woman's Affairs and local NGOs in Cambodia. The LE for farmers were conducted in 1 day (26 September 2012) and involved around 40 farmers and district agricultural officers from 8 provinces. Therefore total participants involved in the LE trainings were around 100 participants from public sectors and grassroot level.

Overall impression of the LBB and LE was very positive, as these trainings have introduced a complimentary approach in development sector, addressing leadership aspects linked to motivational and innovation issues. Further follow ups are expected not only for grassroot leadership programme in Cambodia, but also in other countries, India, Indonesia, Laos, and Vietnam. The commitment of respective country programme will be essential to ensure follow up implementation in the country and the trained trainers will be taking central role in furthering leadership building. APMAS at this point, is ready to support follow up leadership initiative utilizing this established pool of trainers.